Word on MW is that only the blue set will be sold through the normal channels. Red will be TRU exclusive, Green will be CM's site-exclusive.

I'm really mixed-up on these, especially after Aoshima drop the ball so badly. The splayed legs in combo mode are not too bad actually, but the fins that can't be stowed away are, to me, that one tiny detail that sticks out like baboon's angry red arse...

I think I'll take my chances with one of the Aoshimas. Several local shops actually display the contents in the hope of dispelling the bad reputation gained from the initial fallout in Japan. I've seen some that don't look as bad as I thought...

MattAlt Wrote:
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> I think that packaging them together is pretty
> much the only way it made financial sense to
> release the Tread. For whatever its worth, the
> Legioss looked better to me than the Toynami
> version.

Hate to sound like a macrossworld nay-saying malcontent, but I was thinking that since the Fighter mode looked so crappy, maybe it could at least be displayed in Soldier mode, but looking at Tokyo Hunter's blog report, the Soldier seems hideous as well(the chest intakes are too small for one thing):

I still like how toy-like these look. Nothing against more refined painted decos, but sometimes I like the stark and bright qualities that shout 'plastic toy!'.

Affording this set is my only obstacle, especially now that the wife is going back to school. I can see it now, "No, no, honey, you don't need to buy books! Just study your medical terminology on Wikipedia!"

They honestly looked pretty good to me -- aside from that (really rather major) flaw of the tailfins not being able to properly fold away. Given all the other engineering hoops they must have jumped through, it seems odd that they didn't address that somehow. I'd have preferred if they'd simply made them shorter.

I guess it was wishful thinking that all the riders would come with every set. It's that old trick of putting that need in the back of your mind. It's cool that they actually put on the armor instead of being multiple figs in different states. I'd like a complete set for a nice scene, but there's no chance I'm picking up all three at that price. It's just blue for me, and probably most I'd imagine.

I preordered with hobbysearch. I like HLJ, and I've been with them since they started, but when they chose to use UPS exclusively it made the shipping for anything over a kilo an automatic $50 more to the price. They don't offer many incentives for preordering either, everything is retail or if you're lucky, 5% off if you order months in advance.

That Tlead is going to be a cool $300 by the time it hits my doorstep. Maybe I should just let it hit my face for the full effect, or maybe my balls.

I remembered them using it exclusively before, and it has been a while since I ordered from them. My mistake for not speaking from recent experience. All I know is they are consistently higher than everyone else and they charge full retail on everything.

The Hobbysearch shipping was around ¥2400 for EMS to Los Angeles.

I'm not saying they're great for keeping in contact with you or speak english fluently, but they have a points program and everything they sell is reduced, regardless of a pre-order.

The Hlj Pre-order price was their regular price.

Hlj has already pre-sold out, as did Hobby search, but Hobbysearch had the preorder up since late December while HLJ had it up for 2 days.

I use both, as well as a few others, but when something gets up into the hundreds of dollars I try to save as much as possible if I can.

Hlj is great for small stuff, but IMHO they overship their stuff and it costs more than it should. Their shipping was pretty screwy for a while too and if you canceled an order too close to shipping they would send it anyway.

A friend of mine got banned from them (they actually sent an email telling him that) for having his credit card refuse to pay because they wouldn't cancel before the item shipped. He told them he was going to dispute it if they didn't cancel, they said they couldn't cancel it. He stopped payment, the item still shipped, and he unintentionally got a Bandai VF-1J reissue for free. He offered to send it back, but the shipping wasn't worth it to them so they just blackballed him for their stupid shipping method. It takes them up to a week to ship something out (at least it did a few years ago).

That sucks for your friend. I've had nothing but good experiences from HLJ, and they always ship my stuff out quickly. I'm usually surprised I get it as fast as I do, considering it's coming from Japan.

I see the Early Bird for the Legioss is already done with on HLJ, and the price is up to 28,000Y now. Glad I Early Birded and got the 26,600Y price.

For those of you who have wallet problems, you can try a new company called Overdrive: [www.over-drive-inc.com].

It's being sold there for $220, but I don't know anything about the company, so don't blame me if you get ripped off or whatever. I only mention this because I know there are a lot of people who can't afford the finer things on this board, and need discounts or whatever. That's cool.

Personally, though, I emailed HLJ and asked Scott to please charge me an extra 20,000 Yen on my Legioss and to consider it a donation to his company for all the good he's done. I do believe in giving back.

Roger Wrote:
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> If Overdrive can sell a 28,000 yen (about $290
> today) toy at a fixed price of $220, more power to
> 'em.

Yeah, I was wondering how they were able to make such a huge markdown. Must have been a Hobo Revolution I didn't know about.

Sanjeev, I'm glad that you know how to do the correct Yen/Dollar conversion (per kilobyte). Frankly, I don't really believe there's a difference between .002 cents and .002 dollars. I think that's really just an unproven theory (believing there's a difference). More than that I don't know why anyone would waste time arguing over $75.

Hell, I just spent $75 on a beef chimichanga. And I don't even like Mexican food!

Thanks I thought so, I wonder if there gonna make a Beta/Tread in the shadow colours or just sell the Alpha/Legioss by itself, since I can't remember if there were Beta/Tread fighters shown in Shadow colours shown on the show but I guess that wouldn't stop them from making one.